Living in the United States of America: how do I get a Green Card USA?
Immigrating to the USA is a dream for millions of people around the world. The country continues to fascinate the collective imagination. We all have in mind the images of those thousands of immigrants wishing to expatriate, for whom the first vision of America was the Statue of Liberty arriving at Ellis Island harbor.
Those days are gone, and the new key to opening the “Golden Door” and living in the U.S. is to obtain a Green Card USA. This card entitles its holder to establish permanent residence on American territory, and to work in the United States indefinitely. But how do you get a green card USA ? We’ll explain the conditions required by the American authorities to access this precious sesame and open the doors to the American dream.
Obtaining a Green Card USA if your parent is an American citizen
The first solution to qualify for a trip across the Atlantic and and obtain a USA green card is to have a family member, more or less close, who is an American resident and citizen. This relative must then apply to sponsor you. This means that he or she must initiate the immigrant visa procedure. To do so, he or she must already complete a petition to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.
The application will then be examined, and if it is approved, the expatriation candidate must make an appointment at the appropriate American embassy or consulate, depending on his or her location. During the interview, the documents in the file will be examined (copy of online form I-130, biometric passport, passport photo, etc.), and the consular officer will question the applicant on his or her reasons for wanting to come and live in the USA.
If you are married and wish to immigrate with your spouse and children, they too will have to go through the same procedure.
At the end of the interview, the applicant is informed of the outcome of his/her application, and his/her fingerprints are taken electronically. The USA immigrant visa will be issued in the following days, enabling the applicant to organize his or her trip to the USA. Once on American soil, the new permanent resident will will get his Green Card USA by post.
A U.S. citizen may sponsor more than one family member:
- a wife ;
- a son or daughter;
- a brother or sister;
- a parent over the age of 21.
A person in possession of a green card who has been sponsored by a U.S. citizen can apply for U.S. citizenship after 3 years.
Obtaining a green card USA if you have a permanent resident parent
The procedure for obtain a Green Card USA is quite similar to the previous paragraph. You must have a family member living in the USA as a permanent resident, and they must submit a petition on your behalf. The major difference lies in the degree of kinship.
In fact, a permanent resident can sponsor only his/her spouse and son/daughter, provided he/she is not married.
The petition must also be approved, and the candidate must go to the US embassy for an interview.
The waiting time for an appointment and the documents to be provided vary from embassy to embassy.
Once again, the application documents are examined and the applicant is informed whether or not he or she is authorized to live in the United States. If the answer is yes, he or she will be issued with a U.S. immigrant visa, allowing him or her to enter the country. Once here, he or she will receive a green card within a few weeks. He or she will then be able to find a job or take courses at an American university. A card with a social security number can also be sent, if applied for in advance.
A person who comes into possession of a green card sponsored by a permanent resident can apply for naturalization after 5 years.
Obtain a Green Card USA by being sponsored by an employer
An employer can sponsor you to obtain your work permit and enable you to live legally in the United States.
To do so, he must make you a promise of indefinite employment, fill out a petition and submit it to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. If the proposal is found to be legitimate, the same procedure applies as for a family-based application.
Some people who work in highly skilled fields and are recognized internationally as experts in their field have the opportunity to sponsor themselves and obtain a USA green card.obtain a USA green cardif they intend to live in the USA and continue working in their fields of expertise.
Special cases
Applications for a permanent resident card for family or professional reasons account for the majority of authorizations issued. There are, however, other statuses that allow for obtain a Green Card USA Here are a few examples:
- religious worker, working for a non-profit organization;
- special juvenile immigrant (victim of abuse, abandonment or neglect) ;
- Afghan or Iraqi citizen (having worked for the American government) ;
- journalist (coming to work in the USA);
- asylum seeker or refugee ;
- victim of abuse.
The green card lottery
The last solution for obtain a green card USAis to be drawn in the green card lottery.
This lottery is the result of the DIversity Immigrant Visa program. Each year, 55,000 USA green cards are allocated to foreign nationals participating in the lottery.
Certain conditions must be met to be eligible for this program, such as your country of origin, your level of education or your professional experience. For more details, please visit the official U.S. government website.
Be aware that the procedure for expatriating and obtain a Green Card USA can be long and complicated. The U.S. government has established quotas for the number of green cards issued each year. If supply exceeds demand (which is often the case), a waiting list is drawn up, and applications are examined chronologically from the date of issue of the petition. An interesting but costly solution is to retain the services of a lawyer specialized in immigration matters, who is used to dealing with paperwork and administrative delays.
